Simon Jones, head of FX product and liquidity, LSEG
Next year will mark a pivotal moment for the foreign exchange market as the hedging of FX swaps reaches a tipping point toward full electronic execution. The industry has been moving steadily in this direction, but next year will see widespread adoption driven by efficiency and risk management imperatives.
Clients will place increasing demands on both liquidity providers and technology vendors to deliver seamless automation across workflows that today remain fragmented, costly, and prone to operational errors. The pressure to reduce manual intervention will accelerate investment in integrated platforms capable of handling complex processes end-to-end.
At the same time, transparency will regain prominence in spot FX trading. All-to-all Central Limit Order Books (CLOBs), once overshadowed by bespoke liquidity solutions, are poised for a resurgence. Liquidity takers will prioritise openness and fairness over customisation, recognising the value of standardised access and price discovery in an environment where trust and efficiency matter more than ever.
In short, 2026 will not just be about incremental improvements – it will be the year electronic solutions become integral to customer FX hedging and execution needs, reshaping market structure and expectations for years to come.
Basu Choudhury, head of partnerships and strategic initiatives, OSTTRA
Regulators across major markets are accelerating the need to modernise post-trade infrastructure, creating an unusual situation where the public sector is moving faster than many of the financial institutions it oversees.
The shift is considerable, with central banks across the globe advancing stablecoin-focused task forces (US/UK and international) looking at digital ledger-based models.
As we enter 2026, therefore, the direction of travel around FX settlement models is clear. The what is defined, but it’s the how and when that are yet to be realised on a larger scale. The focus next year needs to be on practical execution.
The evolution of 24/7 just-in-time funding models reflects a trend that has accelerated significantly in 2025 and is poised for some tangible milestones next year.
As central bank pilots scale and industry demand for digital settlement grows, the best-case scenario for firms is real-time settlement at scale, lower counterparty risk, and expanded liquidity options. The middle ground is efficiency gains offset by new interoperability frictions. The worst-case scenario, however, is prolonged dual-system operations that increase costs without meaningful benefit.
Next year will be decisive in FX settlement and liquidity management, set to further widen the gap between early movers and late adopters.
Stephan von Massenbach, chief revenue officer, DIGITEC
The FX swaps market is probably 10 years behind NDFs and 15 years behind spot – but catching up rapidly. Driven by client demand, more data, and advances in technology FX swaps volumes are growing, and in 2026 the market will continue its rapid evolution to a more electronic structure.
Clients want to trade FX Swaps in multiple currencies, and tenors beyond overnight and tom-next, and banks can only service clients efficiently by implementing scalable technology solution. Without investing in technology they risk being left behind.
As electronic trading has become more widespread the velocity of the underlying market has increased. To keep pace banks are moving away from excel to FX swaps technology solutions. SaaS technology has reduced the investment required to deliver accurate and fast FX swaps pricing.
Interdealer FX swaps trading is the final part of the market to adopt electronic trading. Over the last two years it has begun to slowly migrate to venues like 360T SUN and LSEG Forwards Matching.
To improve workflows we developed D3 OMS, which enables traders to efficiently place and manage orders on interdealer FX Swaps venues. We expect CLOB volumes to increase in 2026, driven in part by our pipeline of onboarding banks.
James Cawley, founder and chief executive, RTX Fintech & Research
Next year will spotlight the growing need for transformation within the interdealer swaps market.
In 2024, risk-adjusted interest rate derivatives trading volume rose 15.6% to $366 trillion, and US swap execution facilities processed $22 trillion in notional volume in November 2024 alone.
Nearly 90% of dealer-to-client inquiries were electronic, underscoring the rapid advancement of digital protocols across the broader rates ecosystem.
That progress stood in sharp contrast to the interdealer swaps market in 2025, where voice-based execution remained dominant despite rising activity.
Increasing volumes exposed the limits of manual workflows, inconsistent fills and restricted access to trade-level data, prompting institutions to accelerate their move toward scalable and reliable electronic infrastructure.
As 2026 unfolds, the interdealer swaps market is expected to advance toward meaningful structural modernisation. This shift will bring more consistent execution, reduced operational friction and continued movement away from voice-dominated practices, in favor of data-driven electronic models that better align with the complexity and scale of today’s rates markets.
Working with its dealer partners. RTX is helping drive this evolution by delivering lower cost, frictionless trade execution, trade automation and scalability needed for modern interdealer workflows.
